Column Control DTX

Current Drain Analysis Enhances WLAN Network Card Design and Test

Application Notes

The trend is clear. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) are quickly supplanting conventional LAN connections. Newer WLAN standards with improved interoperability and greater data rates are rapidly being developed and deployed. Critical to the success of new laptop WLAN network cards is minimizing their current drain. Their high-power demand can reduce the battery operating time of their host laptop or notebook PC as much as 50 percent. Considerable effort is being made on reducing power consumption of WLAN network cards, from further integration at the silicon level to enhanced power management at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. These efforts all start with having effective means for measuring and evaluating the current drain of designs in their various operating modes and assessing the impact of subsequent design improvements. Going beyond basic measurements, analyzing the dynamics of the current drain signal provides valuable insight to the WLAN card’s behavior and on optimizing its operation. Accurately making these DC and dynamic current measurements can turn out to be quite challenging in practice.

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Column Control DTX